Gay Venezuelan stylist sent to Salvadoran prison after a disgraced cop's report

USA Today

10-04-2025

Gay Venezuelan stylist sent to Salvadoran prison after a disgraced cop's report The imprisoned man sought shelter in the U.S. after he told authorities he was persecuted as a gay man, one of the "particular social groups" allowed to claim asylum.
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Tattoos used by officials to identify and deport Venezuelan migrants
Advocates for Venezuelan migrants say immigration authorities are using tattoos to wrongfully tie them to the Tren de Aragua prison gang.
A former Milwaukee police officer with credibility issues played a key role in the deportation of a Venezuelan migrant to El Salvador's Terrorism Confinement Center.
Charles Cross, Jr., a CoreCivic employee, signed a report alleging the migrant's affiliation with the Tren de Aragua gang based on his tattoos.
Cross has a history of misconduct, including a drunk driving incident and being listed on a Brady List for credibility concerns.
A disgraced former Milwaukee cop with credibility issues helped seal the fate of a gay Venezuelan makeup artist sent to El Salvador's notorious prison, according to documents reviewed by USA TODAY.
A report approved by the police-officer-turned-prison-contractor claimed the Venezuelan man was a member of the notorious Tren de Aragua gang.
But the credibility of Charles Cross, Jr., who signed the report, was so bad, prosecutors flagged him on a list of police who had been accused of lying, breaking the law or acting in a way that erodes their credibility to testify in Milwaukee County.
Cross was fired from his position as a Milwaukee Police Sergeant in 2012 after driving his car into a family's home while intoxicated. He appealed the decision and resigned in the process, according to the department.
At the time, Cross was also being investigated for claiming overtime he allegedly hadn't earned. USA TODAY has requested his disciplinary and employment records.
Earlier misdeeds had already landed him on the Milwaukee County Brady List, a compilation of law enforcement officers deemed by county prosecutors to have credibility issues.
But they weren't enough to keep him from making life-altering decisions about gang affiliations and migrants at an immigration detention center in California.
Cross, an employee of CoreCivic, which runs many of the immigration detention centers for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, typed his name over the title 'INVESTIGATOR' on the form that implicated Andry José Hernandez, a gay makeup artist from Venezuela who has denied any connection to Tren de Aragua, according to a court filing.
Today, Cross, 62, is one of the private prison contractors helping to identify Venezuelan migrants as members of the criminal outfit Tren de Aragua – a designation that's landing them in a Salvadoran prison without due process.
Entrusting private contractors – and not federal agents – to determine whether migrants are members of a criminal gang adds a new level of apprehension, migrant advocates and a former ICE official said.
Putting that responsibility in the hands of government contractors raises 'serious concerns,' John Sandweg, former ICE acting director under the Obama administration said, given that the government is using the alleged gang link as the sole reason for deportation.
It's unclear whether Hernandez was also evaluated by federal agents, if Cross and another CoreCivic employee, Arturo Torres, were Hernandez's sole screeners, or if other corroborating evidence was used to allege his ties to the criminal group.
Asked about the Hernandez case, the Department of Homeland Security wouldn't offer further details on the case or the process in general but reiterated that the department uses more than just tattoos to determine gang allegiance. They also wouldn't comment on the role private contractors play in the process.
'DHS intelligence assessments go well beyond just gang affiliate tattoos and social media. We are confident in our intelligence," the department said in a statement attributed to a "Senior DHS Official," without naming the official. 'We aren't going to share intelligence reports and undermine national security every time a gang member denies he is one. That would be insane.'
CoreCivic said in a statement that the decision to deport or release any person rests with ICE.
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Persecuted as a gay man
Hernandez was one of more than 200 mostly-Venezuelan migrants sent to El Salvador's Terrorism Confinement Center, known as CECOT, last month.
The Justice Department contends President Donald Trump has the authority to wield the Alien Enemies Act, a 1798 law which was previously only invoked in times of declared war against other countries, to hasten the deportation of alleged gang members he said invaded the U.S.
More: Trump banished her husband to El Salvador. Work and worry are all she has left.
Hernandez, 30, fled Venezuela last year because he claimed he was persecuted as a gay man – one of the protected groups allowed to claim asylum under U.S. law. Photos posted to his Instagram site show him applying makeup and wearing bejeweled crowns.
Hernandez initially tried crossing into the U.S. illegally and was intercepted by U.S. Border Patrol agents, who returned him to Mexico, according to court filings. He then presented himself at the San Ysidro Port of Entry in San Diego in August after making an appointment through a government app called CBP One.
Hernandez passed an initial 'credible fear' interview with a federal agent but, after Border Patrol officials questioned him about his tattoos, he was transferred to ICE custody and sent to the Otay Mesa Detention Center in San Diego.
There, Torres questioned Hernandez and filled out questionnaires suggesting the asylum-seeker's tattoos, including a crown on either wrist, next to the words 'Dad' and 'Mom,' linked him to Tren de Aragua. Hernandez repeatedly denied being part of the group.
On one form, dated Dec. 10, 2024, a points-based rubric sheet titled 'STG MEMBER VALIDATION / CONFIRMATION,' Hernandez was given a '5' for his tattoos. None of the other categories, including 'intelligence information received from other agencies' or 'group photos' with other gang members, were checked. Still, he was named a 'SUSPECT.'
'Upon conducting a review of detainee Hernandez's tattoos it was found that detainee Hernandez has a crown on each one of his wrist,' the form states. 'The crown has been found to be an identifier for a Tren de Aragua gang member.'
The document is signed 'Completed by' Torres and 'Confirmed by' Cross.
Internal DHS and FBI documents previously obtained by USA TODAY revealed that federal authorities for years have questioned the effectiveness of using tattoos to identify members of Tren de Aragua, also known as TdA.
'Gang Unit collections determined that the Chicago Bulls attire, clocks, and rose tattoos are typically related to the Venezuelan culture and not a definite (indicator) of being a member or associate of the (TdA),' reads a 2023 "Situational Awareness" bulletin on the criminal gang written by the U.S. Custom and Border Protection's El Paso Sector Intelligence Unit.
Crown tattoos lead to gang allegation
A few weeks after being reviewed by Torres and Cross, around March 6, Hernandez was transferred to a federal detention center in Texas, his attorney wrote in a court filing.
Last month, he was flown to the Salvadoran prison. His lawyers haven't heard from him since.
Sandweg, the former ICE acting director, said ICE agents routinely investigated whether detained migrants had gang affiliations or criminal histories.
Historically, the gang designation was something made by a federal official and reviewed by supervisors before the allegation went in front of an immigration judge, he said. Even then, suspicion of gang alliance was something used to target or fast-track a migrant's deportation – not the sole reason for their removal, Sandweg said.
Exclusive: FBI and DHS question using tattoos to accurately ID Venezuelan criminal gangs
'The idea that government contractors might be making that decision would be very alarming,' Sandweg said.
'People are being rendered to a torture prison on the basis of these flimsy and inaccurate determinations,' said Heidi Altman, vice president of policy at the National Immigration Law Center, an advocacy group. 'Using private prison contractors to make those determinations is just another level of recklessness.'
Reached by phone, Cross deferred all questions to CoreCivic headquarters.
Ryan Gustin, a CoreCivic spokesman, wouldn't comment specifically on Cross's case but said in a statement that all employees 'clear a rigorous, federal background clearance process' and must be approved by ICE before being employed at an ICE-contracted facility.
CoreCivic staffers conduct a 'thorough assessment' on all people entering its detention centers, but the decision to deport rests solely with ICE, the statement said.
'CoreCivic does not enforce immigration laws, arrest anyone who may be in violation of immigration laws, or have any say whatsoever in an individual's deportation or release,' it read. 'CoreCivic also does not know the circumstances of individuals when they are placed in our facilities.'
It's unknown what, if any, training Cross has had in identifying gang members. In Milwaukee, he rose to the rank of sergeant at the police department and, according to his LinkedIn page, had '19+ years of service' and gained 'extensive experience in security, investigations, department management and overall operations.'
Police sergeant shrouded by misdeeds
But his tenure was cratered with controversy. In 2007, he received a misdemeanor conviction after kicking in the door of the apartment he shared with his girlfriend and threatening to kill himself with his service revolver, according to court records. He lost his job but later was reinstated after appealing to the Milwaukee Fire and Police Commission.
That incident landed him on the Brady List, which gives defense attorneys a chance to contest an officer's credibility if they're called to testify.
In 2012, Cross was arrested again after driving his car into the side of a house, court records show. His blood alcohol level was more than double the legal limit for driving. He was ticketed for first-offense drunken driving after the crash, court records show.
'He couldn't walk straight. He was talking nonsense like, 'Highway's here,'' Nina Krasic, who was in the home with her three children, told Fox 6 TV at the time. 'I'm like, 'No.'"
After an internal investigation, Cross was fired from the force in October 2012. He appealed and later resigned.
Four months later, he was hired at CoreCivic.
Greg Chen, senior director of government relations at the American Immigration Lawyers Association, questioned the legality of having contract workers make such consequential decisions. A key issue is whether, in cases such as Hernandez's, there was other corroborating evidence – and whether a government official made the final call to send him to El Salvador, he said.
'That determination that somebody would be removable from the country needs to be made by a law enforcement official under the Department of Homeland Security,' he said. 'It would be highly problematic if that determination was being made, in fact, by a private prison employee.'
In court filings, Paulina Reyes, an attorney for Hernandez, described the crown tattoos on her client as representing his affinity for the annual 'Three Kings' festival in his hometown of Capacho, Venezuela.
He worked as a makeup artist at a state-run television station but was constantly discriminated against and threatened for his sexual orientation and political views, according to the affidavit. Hernandez quit the TV job and fled to the United States, where he told relatives he'd be safer.
By mid-March, he had vanished.
Follow Jervis on X: @MrRJervis.
USA TODAY reporter Gina Barton contributed to this report.